Skiing Adventures

Who knew that it snows so much in a desert state?  We've had a decent amount of snow in the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque, but haven't tried the ski area up there yet (it's on the to do list though!).  We went to Santa Fe on my day off a few weeks ago, which is only about 2 hours from leaving our house to getting parked and on the lift.



The visibility was really limited for most of the day because it started snowing pretty heavily and I was finally convinced that I needed to invest in some goggles!  Somehow I always think I look weird when we take skiing selfies...



Here's an artsy snow pic:



Last weekend we went to Taos for the weekend with our friends Megan and Rami.  This is the sign you see at the bottom of the main lift from the base as you look up a super steep mountain...



Megan, Rami, and Josh are all much better at snow sports than me (they all do snowboarding and I ski, but either way they are faster and more coordinated), so I did a few greens by myself.  I think that, as shameful as it may be, my favorite runs are still the greens.  I like the roads (unless they're completely flat) because I can get going a little faster without being too scared.



The group did put up with my slowness for a few runs though!  Here's a good picture of Josh and I near the top.



And another awkward selfie (with my new goggles, that I was happy to have because it snowed our second day in Taos!)...



There was a really pretty half frozen waterfall that you could see a lot better from one of the lifts.  This picture really doesn't do it justice, but taking your phone out on the lift to try to take a picture is a little scary, so this is the best we could get.



A few more of the beautiful mountains and the quaint little Taos Ski Valley village...





PS- Extra points if you can tell which photos were taken with iPhone 6s and which were taken with Google Pixel!

River of Lights

The ABQ BioPark Botanic Gardens does a display similar to the one at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens every year where they decorate the garden with a bunch of lights, so we took Jenny one night to see it.

There were all kinds of animals and other displays and it was a nice way to spend an evening!

Also some extinct/imaginary ones...

This one's for you, Dad...

And they even had boozy hot chocolate and coffee to help keep us warm :)

We haven't been to visit the botanical gardens yet during the day, but I'm looking forward to going back in the spring and seeing all the cacti blooming!

Hanukkah and Christmas in Albuquerque

Jenny came to visit for Christmas and on her first night in town, we enjoyed our annual treat of snow crabs from one of her old partners from work.  As you can see, Bailey was pretty interested in getting a taste too...

 

The next day we visited Santa Fe, where they had just gotten their first (little bit of) snow of the year.



We also celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with latkes!  I don't know if I've ever made them on my own before, and let's just say I definitely understand why my dad always wants to make them outside... that oil and fried onion smell stuck around for days!







We made another big feast for Christmas, including fried turkey and pretty much the same menu as Thanksgiving.  No pictures of the food, but here's a good on of Josh and Jenny with the tree.



The east side of the Sandias get a lot of snow and there's a "snow play" area with hills for sledding and a big parking lot to run around in.  Jenny got the doggies some new jackets for Hanukkah/Christmas, so we decided to take them up there to try them out and play in the snow!





They were definitely happy to have their coats, but Bailey's feet still got cold and uncomfortable, so Josh had to give her poor paws a break for a while :)



It was really pretty and a lot of fun!  Next time we'll have to get some doggie booties or paw wax to help with the cold and we also want to see if Bailey will pull us on a sled.  Iditarod, here we come!